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Anthropology is, with music and mathematics, one of the few true vocations; and the anthropologist may become aware of it within himself before ever he has been taught it. (Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques, 1961) It is a notable curiosity that many anthropologists who made […]

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At first glance, a home phone seems like a somewhat quaint, old-fashioned thing to have these days. With mobile phones everywhere, it seems unnecessary and perhaps a little wasteful. Call me nostalgic, then, but I really like to have one. I have a few […]

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I struggle to focus on my work, for the same reasons most people do: we are surrounded by seemingly never ending distractions (social media, email, phone calls) and it’s difficult to focus on a project without interruptions. I also find that my mind is […]

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Men’s hobbies tend to fall into one of two broad categories. There are extroverted leisure time pursuits, often related to sports, gaming, grilling meat or drinking; and more introverted activities, often related to material things, such as woodworking, model building, photography, stereos and the […]

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First, we have to go through the security theatre. The long lineups are partially for crowd control (you don’t want the wait to seem too long, so it’s best to break up the line into a few smaller ones), partially to ensure that authority […]

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Three weeks ago, I bought a Jawbone UP. It’s a movement-tracking bracelet that can be plugged into your iPhone (or Android device) once or twice a day to transmit your activity to a mobile app. (You can also download your tracking data as a […]

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I’m taking the spring and summer off (from paying work) this year. My relationship with my former employer ended recently, and I decided to be a free agent for a while. There were many motivations for this decision, but most importantly (and like most […]

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Most of us, whether we like it or not, have to go on business trips from time to time. When you’re in your twenties, this seems like a glamorous thing, and your partying stamina helps you deal with the adverse effects of air travel, […]

"When people ask me why I'm leaving New York, I give a variety of answers. Often, I just say that it's time for a change. But it is also a retreat of sorts. I'm not leaving because of Trump, but I'm not *not* leaving because of him, either." https://t.co/tl27FBe6PE

“Thinking about heatwaves and getting lost in theoretical speculations, I got caught into the trap of what Freud called fetishist disavowal: I know very well (how serious the danger is), but I nonetheless don’t really believe it can happen.” https://t.co/CvDvbKX075